Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• From here, it's downhill all the way. From Largo das Portas do Sol (the plaza with the
statue of local patron St. Vincent, near the kiosk café on the terrace), go down the stairs
(Rua Norberto de Araújo, between the church and the catwalk). The old fortified wall (on
the right) once marked the boundary of Moorish Lisbon. Consider that the great stones
on your right were stacked here a thousand years ago. At the bottom of the wall, continue
downhill, then turn left at the railing...and go down more stairs. Explore downhill from
here. The main thoroughfare, a concrete stepped lane called Escadinhas de São Miguel,
leads to the Alfama's main square, and...
The Heart of the Alfama:
This square, Largo de São Miquel, is the best place to
observe a slice of Alfama life. While city leaders rebuilt the rest of Lisbon after the 1755
quake, this neighborhood was left out and consequently retains its tangled medieval street
plan.
If you've got the time, explore the Alfama. Its urban-jungle roads are squeezed into
confusing alleys—the labyrinthine street plan was designed to frustrate invaders and
guidebook researchers trying to get up to the castle. What was defensive then is atmo-
spheric now. Bent houses comfort each other in their romantic shabbiness, and the air
